Move More This Summer

Move More This Summer

With summer here we typically get outside and move a bit more than during those winter hibernation months.

Often we forgo the gym or our fitness classes in July/August as we prefer to move purposefully outside; we hike, we go for walks, we cycle, we garden, we swim at the cottage.

What if this summer we adopted the mindset to “Just Move” – to do some type of purposeful movement every day to promote well-being.

How fitting to introduce you this summer to Amanda Sterczck – author of the book “Move More”. I met Amanda through Essentrics® (she’s an instructor in Ottawa) and soon found a kindred spirit who values movement of all kinds to promote health and well-being. She just recently launched her book and I thought it would be a great summer read for you. Read more about Amanda, the institute she created and the book she wrote.

Meet Amanda

BYC: Tell us a bit about yourself.

Amanda: I’m originally from Ottawa, where I currently reside. Except for a few stints on either coast – PEI in the 1980s and Vancouver in the 1990s – I’ve lived here my whole life. I have 2 teenagers, and fitness is my third career. I began teaching Essentrics® in 2010, and completed my personal trainer certification in 2016. When my kids were younger, I spent 2 years volunteering in their school, teaching a modified Essentrics workout to kids aged 4 to 10, called Classroom Stretch. The teachers loved it as much as the kids did. In 2013, I began teaching seniors’ Essentrics classes, and found I much preferred this age group to the teens and twenty-somethings I encountered when I worked with an amateur sports team. My older students understood the need to keep their bodies functioning well, so they appreciated the classes.

I’m a classic introvert and my hobbies reflect that: I like to read, knit, go for long walks alone, and spend time in my head – deep in thought or reflecting on life.

BYC: What is your background?

Amanda: I have a Master’s degree in social psychology from Carleton University (1993). Before fitness, I worked for over 10 years in health promotion research and human resources.

BYC: What is your underlying philosophy?

Amanda: Exercise to live (not live to exercise). For me, fitness is a means to an end – enjoying life, living pain-free, getting the most out of every day. And ensuring that my clients and I have “health span,” not just lifespan.

BYC: Tell us about the Move More Institute?

Amanda: I first conceived of The Move More Institute™ in 2016 as a way to encourage people to get up and move. Statistics Canada has reported that only 15% of Canadian adults meet the recommended physical activity guidelines of 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity. What’s more, all adults spend 10 hours a day being sedentary and physically inactive. That’s 69% of their daily waking hours! I realized that exercise aside, people needed help to get up and move more. In fact, the World Health Organization reports physical inactivity as the fourth leading risk factor for premature death globally. We’re talking 3.2 million deaths from physical inactivity!

With The Move More Institute™, I have created online courses to help people add more movement to their day: there’s a simple 5-day movement challenge, 2 3-day courses to improve balance, a 6-week session to add snacks of exercise at work, and a 12-week movement coaching course to create behaviour change (so that being more active becomes a habit, thereby replacing the habit of being sedentary).

BYC: You very recently wrote a book called “Move More”. Tell us about your book and what inspired you to write it.

Amanda: The book’s full title says a lot about the topic: Move More, Your Life Depends On It: Practical Tips to Add More Movement to Your Life. I’ve spent over 2 years creating content – online courses, social media posts, blogs, workshops – to teach people how to sit less and move more. And these thoughts and ideas were rattling around in my brain for a few years before that. I realized that I wanted to reach more people with a simple message: Exercise, physical activity, practical fitness, movement. Call it what you will, just make sure you do it every day. Physical activity doesn’t need to be costly, complicated, or time-consuming. But it does need to happen every single day. No special clothing, fancy equipment or expensive gym memberships are required. Just a commitment to get off your butt and move more.

I drew on my background in psychology and health promotion research to teach people to nudge themselves to incorporate more movement into their day.

People’s lives used to be more inconvenient – no labour-saving devices or apps – and this caused them to move more. I want to get people back to that point. My slogan is Move More, Feel Better.